[imagesource: Volkswagen]

Volkswagen hasn’t been covering itself in glory of late.

Case in point was that terrible racist advertising fail that had it apologising, once again, for its tone-deaf approach to how the world works today.

While it battles that PR nightmare, it’s been working hard on developing the latest environmentally friendly addition to the VW family.

Back in May, it announced that the first battery electric SUV based on Volkswagen’s MEB chassis would be called ID 4. The concept version of the car was originally known as the ID Crozz and looked like the car pictured above.

Now that VW has moved out of the concept phase of the design process, China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology leaked pictures of the new SUV, due to be released later this year.

Over to The Verge:

The German automaker is said to be planning a full reveal of the ID 4 sometime later this summer. It’s expected to get around 300 miles of range on a full charge and is built on the same modular EV platform that will power VW’s other ID vehicles.

Image: VWIDtalk

The photos published on Wednesday only show the exterior of the vehicle, and it shares some of the same design language as the ID 3 — the hatchback EV that VW is starting to roll out in Europe — as well as the other ID vehicles that we’ve seen in concept form. Its headlights resemble the ones found on the ID 3, and the front grille shares a similar cheese grater aesthetic to the wagon concept VW.

The ID 4’s design is sleeker than VW’s workhorse SUVs like the Tiguan or the Atlas.

But there’s nothing that really screams “EV” about the design. It lacks the bright blue accents and spaceship looks that some other automakers have refused to move beyond despite electric vehicles becoming more commonplace.

One thing that does stand out is that, despite VW focusing on the “ID 4” branding for months now, one variant of the vehicle does feature embossed “Crozz” lettering on its rear bumper, meaning the company may not be completely done with that branding.

I guess we’ll have to wait for the official reveal to find out.

Let’s hope they’re sticking to electricity and this isn’t another ‘omissions test’ scandal…

[source:verge]